I re-stumbled across the following quote by the philosopher Simone Weil. I first encountered it in Pete Fitch’s “Theological Reflections on Suffering” course at SSU.
Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvellous, intoxicating.
A great thought for a day and age where evil is cast as the main star in every piece of popular culture.
Very true. Evil is rampantly romanticized while goodness is seen as stale and uninteresting.
Real good is also long lasting. The imaginary stuff dries up right quick.
Good thoughts lads
You see this thinking so much in our language. Just today at church, somebody said “wicked” but meant it to mean “great!” Many other negatives that are used as positives: bad, ill, sick, etc.
And then there’s the fact that so many of the words of goodness are seen negatively and perjoratively: holy, righteous are two prime examples.
Good point, I’ve never noticed that before.